Gov. Hickenlooper pitches swift holds of gun sales to mentally ill

Colorado would streamline involuntary mental health commitments and speed that information to gun-sale registries as part of a comprehensive, $18.5 million psychiatric overhaul aimed at preventing violence and improving care, in proposals by Gov. John Hickenlooper on Tuesday.

Drawing a direct line between the Aurora theater shooting and systemic failures in mental health scrutiny, Hickenlooper said the package would "reduce the probability of bad things happening to good people."

Mental health advocates in the state hailed what they say is a desperately needed bolstering of emergency psychiatric services and commitment laws. They said civil commitments could be simplified while also protecting patient rights.

Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper is pictured during an interview with the Associated Press at his office in the Capitol in Denver on Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2012. Colorado s governor says it s time the state considered gun control measures, almost five months after a movie theater massacre shocked the nation. (AP | Ed Andrieski)

Colorado currently puts adjudicated mental health cases on a compact disc every six months to enter into CBI's system. The proposal requires approval by state lawmakers. Currently, would-be gun buyers can be rejected for a number of reasons, including felony convictions for murder and assault. Domestic-violence charges and mental illnesses add to the list of disqualifiers.

• Developing 20 new beds for mentally incompetent prisoners to regain competency for trial in the Denver area, with $2 million in state funds.

• Spending $4.8 million next year on transitional mental health care, including two 15-bed residential homes for those leaving inpatient facilities to rejoin the community. This portion would also add 107 housing vouchers to help the seriously mentally ill.

• Creating de-escalation rooms at state mental health hospitals, and newly consolidating mental health and substance abuse data, with $1.4 million in state spending.

The state money would come from the general fund that has benefited from rising tax forecasts as the Colorado economy improves.

Beth McCann, a Democratic state representative from Denver, said the budget proposals would have significant support in the Democratically controlled legislature, but lawmakers will debate the language on civil commitments.

Hickenlooper and Human Services director Reggie Bicha said discussions of the overhaul began three days after the July 20 massacre in Aurora. State officials had no idea they'd later be dealing with the emotional impact from last week's Connecticut school deaths, Hickenlooper said.

The governor has also said it is time to debate new gun control measures, and some Democrats appear ready to introduce new measures.

In the Aurora shooting, graduate student James Holmes is accused of killing 12 people and injuring at least 58 ; in June, Holmes' psychiatrist had referred him to a campuswide evaluation team, according to news reports, but no other action was apparently taken. Holmes had purchased guns in May.

Asked about the tie between the Aurora shootings and the simplifying of mental health commitments, Hickenlooper said, "We have a number of indications that trained personnel can identify ... . Oftentimes, a relatively short period of restraint allows someone to get through a difficult phase. Again, one of the key points is to make sure we have trained professionals in position in real time to — where necessary — intervene in these cases."

One of the changes would rewrite the burden-of-proof requirement in a mental health hold to a patient having a "substantial probability" of being a threat, rather than the harder-to-prove "imminent danger," Bicha said.

The expansion of services should be applauded, said Jana Burke, director of the Rocky Mountain ADA Center, which advocates for patient rights and is a clearinghouse for the Americans with Disabilities Act. Clarifying the commitment law will help define patient rights, Burke added.

The walk-in mental health emergency centers would be a great addition for the state, said Dr. Paul Melinkovich, director of ambulatory services for Denver Health. Primary care offices in Denver are often asked for mental health services from fairly desperate patients, because other services don't exist, Melinkovich said.

"Having places with specialized staff would be very helpful," he said. "It would decompress emergency rooms from that demand they really can't meet very well."

Long before the Aurora shooting and the tragedy unfolding in Connecticut, state mental health leaders had called for higher spending and more coordinated care for the seriously ill.

A 2011 report by a group of key foundations said 90,000 Colorado children and adolescents have a "serious emotional disturbance." Another 170,000 adults have a severe mental illness, according to the report, "The Status of Behavioral Health Care in Colorado."

The report highlighted Colorado's outsized suicide rate and a large number of military veterans returning from challenging duty in Afghanistan and Iraq. It also noted that specialized psychiatric services are increasingly concentrated in major cities such as Denver and Colorado Springs, leaving rural areas badly underserved in mental health.

Boulder is pretty good at producing rock bands, and by "rock," we mean the in-your-face, guitar-heavy, leather-clad variety — you know, the good kind. For a prime example, look no farther than BANDITS. Full Story